Apple faces class action lawsuit over older phone slowdown

Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas, law students at University of Southern California, have filed the suit in the Central District Court of California.

The pair, represented by LA-based Wilshire Law Firm, are seeking to sue on behalf of US and California classes of older iPhone owners.

Apple denies claims that its phone software is deliberately designed to slow down over time to encourage users to buy an upgrade.

Instead, the company said its software was designed to reduce demand on the battery as it ages in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

In a statement to the press, Apple said lithium-ion batteries “become less capable of supply peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time”, and its iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE models have a feature to “smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions”.

The company added: “We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

However, Mr Bogdanovich and Ms Speas allege that Apple breached implied contracts with them and other iPhone owners by “purposefully slowing down older iPhone models when new models come out and by failing to properly disclose that” at the point of purchase.